More than 20 Watertown residents whose families donated $100 apiece to bring back Watertown’s Boston Post cane attended a cane presentation ceremony at the Edmund Fowle House on Wednesday.

Christine Laubenstein, staff writer

More than 20 Watertown residents who donated $100 apiece to bring back Watertown’s Boston Post cane attended a cane presentation ceremony at the Edmund Fowle House on Wednesday.

The group, headed by Watertown resident Charles Morash and Watertown native Ronald Ohanian, gave the cane to the Watertown Historical Society so it can be displayed at the Edmund Fowle House.

“My husband and I were so happy that they found the cane first of all…and to bring it back to Watertown, a town that we all love so much, we’re very happy to donate the money and be a part of this,” Mary O’Reilly Fahey said.

Patty Sclafani-Hinkley was at the event with her father, Pasquale "Pat" Sclafani. He also donated $100 in honor of his love for Watertown.

"My father has strong loyalties to Watertown after having lived here since 1941, and he was a former selectman and a former state representative in Watertown, and he also is a member of the historical society," Sclafani-Hinkley said.

A handful of speeches were made at Wednesday's event, including one by Boston Post cane expert Barbara Staples, Morash and Ohanian.

Ohanian mentioned how committed Morash was to the two of them raising money for the cane.

"The last four months, I swear, someone came from another planet and got inside this guy because he was not the guy I knew," Ohanian said. "And I can't believe to tell you what he put me through these last four months."

Morash said bringing back the cane was very important to him. He heard it was missing about 20 years ago.

"Ever since then I've gone in and out of every antiques shop that I've ever been in over 20 years hoping to find the cane ...and then the article appeared in the Watertown TAB (about how the cane was for sale) the first of November and I pursued it from there," he said.

The Historical Society's Bob Childs said he is thrilled the organization now has Watertown's Boston Post cane.

"Our hope is that anybody that wants to learn the story of the Boston cane and Watertown's part in it can come to the Historical Society at the Edmund Rowle House museum and actually see it and enjoy it," he said.

On Wednesday Watertown donors also presented the Historical Society with a display case for the cane, a plaque with all the donors' names on it, and two replica Boston Post canes.

Later this year the town may present the oldest man and woman in Watertown with those replica canes. It would be an offshoot of the old tradition of giving the original cane to the oldest man in town.

Here's a list of all those who donated $100 to bring back the cane:

John and Marie Airasian

Robert and Jo Cappadona and family

Attilio Caporiccio and family

Dennis and Dawn Duff

James and Mary Fahey and family

Leonard and Anne Frisoli

William Gildea Jr.

Robert and Margaret Gleason

John and Ellice Lund

Donald and Kelley MacDonald

Robert and Barbara Manzelli

Robert and Dorothy McCarthy

Steve and Lynda Messina and family

Paul and Mary Menton

Charles Morash and family

Walter and Joyce Munger and family

Cyrus M. Ohanian and family

Paul and Ann O'Reilly

Pasquale "Pat" Sclafani

Patricia Stenson

Charles and Lucy Tobin

Warren and Carolyn Tolman

Martin and Loretta Tomassian

Arthur and Barbara Venezia

J. Malcolm and Edith Whitney

Bill and Linda York

Editor's note: The original version of this article left out the name of one of the families that donated money to bring back Watertown's Boston Post cane.